These articles from Manufacturer and Builder Magazine were
published in the 1870s. Photo scans of the articles are available from
Making of America at Cornell University.
Uncorrected text scans are available from the
Library of Congress'
American Memory site. I did some cleanup of the text scans. I made
a few editorial comments in italics with my initials.

From Manufacturer and Builder / Volume 4, Issue 12,
December 1872

The "Great Epizootic", a form of influenza, killed thousands of horses in
the eastern United States in 1872. Horse-drawn street railways lost most of
their motive power. This great die-off spurred the development of other
forms of propulsion for streetcars.

It is curious to observe the different channels into which different
minds run as soon as some extraordinary event stimulates the mental powers.
So the late diseases among horses induced the different editors and
contributors to the dailies, weeklies, etc., to write articles on that
subject, in some of which the main point appeared to be, to cover up their
ignorance by the invention of names; so it was said that the present equine
epidemic was febrequobronchiatis; according to others, it was
hippodiptheria, epihippic, or again pakeopneumonia, etc. Others have
occupied their minds with devising remedies, either empirical or fanciful,
witness the scores of prescriptions for horses published, and the secret
nostrums advertised, which meet our eyes everywhere, even as posters on
residences. For instance, Mrs. Thompson, female physician, has on her door a
bill announcing in large letters that she sells the universal panaceum for
horses -- exactly the remedy for the present equine pleurisy; even the
horse-shoers have balsams; and if one-tenth part of the remedies recommended
were administered to the horses, it would be sufficient to exterminate the
race. Others, possessed of a philosophical mind, went into an investigation
of the cause of the disease. Of course this was more difficult, and a
dangerous field, especially for those who labored under a lack of the
knowledge of the philosophical facts, and, as is usual in such cases, make
up for their deficiency by foggy conceptions and fanciful notions. So the
scientific (?) editor of the New York Herald, who repeatedly makes
himself the laughing-stock of all better-informed readers by his theories of
the aurora borealis, of the heat of last summer, etc., etc., comes out with
an article on the horse disease, and proclaims that it is intimately
connected with well-marked meteorological phenomena, namely, the recurrence
of the sunspots in sopra-annual cycles, which bring every twelve years the
greatest aerial and electrical derangements to our planet ; and seeing that
the cause is not terrestrial, but planetary and cosmical, it helps to
unravel the mystery, and is a step in the right direction.

Not satisfied with one theory, the editor comes also with another, and
says that, according to the high authority of the English physicist, Keith
Johnston, the north-east wind is distinctly catarrhal in its influence, the
south-west wind singularly malarial, and the dry north-west wind the
vitalising current which corrects the evil effects of the others. The
Herald editor applies these rules to our continent, but unfortunately
forgets that the character of the winds blowing in certain directions is
very different in England and in North America, and even differs in various
localities of the United States. So the western air currents, which in
winter bring us in the Eastern States dry, cold weather, do the reverse in
England, as there they blow from the ocean; while the eastern winds, which
bring us here moist weather, are dry winds there, blowing from the
continent. In California the conditions and relations are again different.
Finally the editor expects that solar and meteorological investigations will
enable the scientific world to anticipate confidently such eruptions of
great adversaries of man and beast, and enable us to chart the limits and
zones in which they will move.

It is a singular fact that while the remains of the fossil horse, or
Hipparion, are quite abundant on the American continent, the race had
entirely died out when Columbus landed here, while the posterity of the same
fossil horse had continually flourished on the eastern hemisphere, and by
breeding under human supervision and care, had attained great perfection.
Some conditions must have prevailed in the western world which made the
continued existence of the equine race impossible. If such conditions are
less injurious, only the stronger individuals will survive. We find this
verified from time to time in all species of animals, including man, and it
is perhaps a necessary provision of nature to keep up the perfection of
races, by a periodical clearing away of the weaker and imperfect
individuals, by so-called epidemics. So we have periodically the cattle
disease, the cholera morbus, diptheria, not only among man, but also among
dogs, cats, and even among animals in the natural wild state. History tells
us that a catarrhal horse disease prevailed in Greece and Italy 412 years
before our era, and also over nearly the whole of Europe in 330, 876, 1173,
1259, 1299; 6 times in the 14th century, 39 times in the 15th, twice in the
16th, 15 times in the 18th, and thus far 17 times in our century. As we can
only have had 6 years of maximum sunspots thus far during the 19th century,
and the other years of this disease do by no means correspond with the
periodical 11 or 12 years of solar maximum disturbances, the theory of the
Herald scientific (?) editor is at once disposed of.

If our opinion is asked, we must acknowledge that we can do no more than,
by want of positive data, give mere suspicions. That it is not only a
contagion from animal to animal, but that the cause is also to be sought for
in the atmosphere, appears evident, as we know personally of isolated
horses, in out-of-the-way places in the country, who became attacked without
having been in the vicinity of any other horses. Butchers have observed that
for the last few months they had unusual trouble to preserve their meat, and
this appears to point to a peculiar condition in the atmosphere, probably
caused
by organic fungoid germs, which attacked first those animals which were most
exposed to the atmosphere and subject to the greatest fatigue under
atmospheric influence. As the total sum of the air-cells in the horses lungs
expose a surface of more than 1,000 square feet to atmospheric contact, and
as those horses exposed to the greatest fatigue were most severely attacked,
the probability is most in favor of the theory of a slightly vitiated
atmosphere, of which the influence of minute
impurities becomes perceptible by the enormous amounts of air inhaled night
and day without interruption, accumulating evil influences, till the system
suffers. The first symptoms are a kind of diptheria, and when the animal is
apparently carried safely through this, a second form of the disease
manifests itself as dropsy. If the latter has not been the result of
injudicious treatment, is an open question. Recently the chickens have
become attacked with similar ailments, to the great alarm of the farmers.

The microscope, which has already done and is doing so much now, in
helping us to unravel the cause of many other diseases, will undoubtedly, by
further refinement of the methods of research, enable us to discover the
nature of these organic germs in the atmosphere, and vindicate its
well-deserved reputation against those doubters who for more than a century
have persisted in refusing their belief in its great usefulness, for the
simple reason of their own awkwardness in
manipulating, or of their lack of patience, which prevented them from
observing anything where others of superior abilities in this direction.
have established incontrovertible proofs.

From Manufacturer and Builder / Volume 4, Issue 12,
December 1872

Rufus Gilbert's Gilbert Elevated later became the Metropolitan Elevated
Railway. It ran on Sixth Avenue and originally proposed to use compressed
air as motive power.

QUICK TRANSIT.

Harlem river and the boats will furnish slow transit,
but the Gilbert Elevated Railway is now coming prominently
before the people.

This railway was incorporated by George B. Grinnell
and others, last January. Gilbert's old plan was an
atmospheric tube, but it was amended so as to permit
the use of regular cars drawn by dummy engines, and
an atmospheric tube between the two tracks, for newspapers
and freight. It is elevated on arches like
a tipped-over U. They have power to build depots,
platforms, &c., and the legislature appointed a commission,
composed of Henry G. Stebbins, General Gilmore,
and others, with power to definitely establish the
line of the road. Those gentlemen have established it,
and it is to run nearly as follows: from the Battery to
Hudson street, up Hudson street to Eighth avenue, up
Eighth avenue to Central Park, thence across to Ninth
avenue, and up Ninth avenue to One Hundred and
Tenth street, then along the lower side of Morning-side
Park to St. Nicholas avenue, up St. Nicholas avenue to
One Hundred and Fifty-fifth street, then along Harlem
river to Spuyten Duyvil. The same road will run down
the East side east of Third avenue.

Colonel Stebbins has examined the London Underground
Railroads, and pronounces them failures; and, it
is said, that the Harlem Railroad opposes Commodore
Vanderbilt, in his projected Underground.
In the meantime, in view of some quick transit and
the Hallett's Point excavation, property down town is
dead, while it is looming up on the West side, above the
Park, and on Washington Heights.
The Gilbert Elevated may run up West Broadway
and South Fifth avenue, and the Committee are thinking
of changing their original report so as meet the change.

From Manufacturer and Builder / Volume 5, Issue 5,
May 1873

This article mentions New York's pioneering elevated roads and its first
subway.

New York city has reached such a stage of its existence in the
concentration of its trade on the lower half of Manhattan Island, that
people must not only live and do business on different stories, but that
even for travel and transportation the surface of its wide and many
thoroughfares has become too small, so that its citizens are driven to
provide for means of transit under ground and through the air.

The latter plan is now in quite successful operation by the so-called
one-legged railroad through Greenwich street and Ninth avenue, from the
Battery to Thirty-second street, a distance of nearly 4 miles, and is hourly
made by two or three small trains on this road in 15 minutes. It is
practically demonstrating the advantages which we will derive from an
elevated railroad
through a more central part of the city, such as the Gilbert elevated road
over Third avenue promises to be. The charter of this company has been
granted, and a contract made with the New England Iron Company to have the
road ready from Chambers to Forty-second street by October 15th. However,
some English bondholders had the plans and specifications inpected by an
expert engineer, Mr. A. P. Boiler, who reported adversely, as he considered
the iron-work, as described in the specifications, too light. At the same
time some of the most eminent road-builders refused, for the same reason, to
have anything to do with it. We presume the plans and specifications will,
therefore, have to be modified in order to meet the well-founded objections
of the experts.

The commissioners appointed to propose a route, recommend the following
as the most desirable: From the south shore of Harlem River at Kingsbridge,
along River street to Eighth avenue, 110th street, Ninth avenue, Fifty-third
street, Sixth avenue, Fourth street, South Fifth avenue, crossing Canal,
West Broadway to Chambers, thence to Broadway, down Broadway to Bowling
Green, Beaver street, Pearl street, New Bowery, Division, and Allen street,
First avenue, Twenty-
third street, Second avenue, Harlem River, River street to Eighth avenue,
completing the belt.

At the same time we see with pleasure that the best of all plans, that of
Mr. A. E. Beach, for a pneumatic tunnel under Broadway has been approved of
by the legislature and Governor of the state, and will soon be commenced,
while Mr. George S. Green has been appointed engineer of this road by Mayor
Havemeyer. The final success of the projector against a most powerful
opposition, proves the value of perseverance when applied in a good cause.

A specimen tunnel has been in operation for two years for the distance of
a few blocks in Broadway, and open to public inspection. It persuaded every
one of the great advantages of such a road in hot summers and cold winters,
stormy weather, etc.; and this, combined with its central location, without
possibility of obstruction by any street travel or interference with view
from the houses, frightening of stupid horses below or agitation of timid
people above, who always fear to be precipitated into the street; these are
some of the objections against elevated roads. The only objections against
the tunnel, the derangement of gas, water, and sewer pipes, can be easily
overcome.

We do not sum up the objections out of opposition to the elevated road.
We will delight in a rapid trip up Third avenue, while at every opportunity
we prefer to use the elevated railroad in Greenwich street, and we want all
the roads we can possibly obtain. They undoubtedly will all turn out very
profitable investments when well built and properly managed.

From Manufacturer and Builder / Volume 5, Issue 11,
November 1873

Cable traction was not the only method tried to replace horse and steam
locomotive power.

We copy the following from the Chicago Real Estate and Building
Journal: "The last and most remarkable
invention in engines, or locomotive power, was tested recently, which
astonished a large number of our citizens who witnessed the modus
operandi of its workings. Mr. D. Myers has for years been studying over
the
problem how to dispense with horses in the propulsion of street cars. He
expended time and money in
inventing and modeling a pneumatic engine that should run with compressed
air as a motive power; but,
though at one time thought to be a success, the invention failed to satisfy
the railroad men, and was set aside
as too unreliable to be made useful. Mr. Myers did not despair. His
inventive genius did not desert him,
and his determination to succeed never flagged. Air having proved a failure,
he next resorted to steam, and
made an attempt to overcome the objections made to its use in the streets.
His success has been complete,
and it may be but a short time when horses in front of of street cars will
be a thing of the past. The great
objection to steam dummies has been the danger and annoyance of falling
cinders from the smoke-stack. The
invention of Mr. Myers entirely removes this objection, for there will be no
fire, and consequently no cinders
connected with his dummy. The process is ingenious, yet simple. He charges a
boiler with steam enough
to last for a trip of 10 or 16 miles, and sends it on its journey without a
spark of fire. The invention was
tested on the track between Hyde Park station and Thirty-ninth street -- a
distance of 3 miles. Among
those present were J. E. Young, President of the Chicago, Danville and
Vncennes Railroad; George L.
Webb, George B. Clark, and others. At the southern terminus of the track is
a large stationary boiler,
from which the dummies are supplied with steam by means of a 3-inch pipe
extending from one to the other.
The dummy boiler is two-thirds filled with water, when the steam is turned
on. The gauge on the day of trial
indicated 1170 pounds. The round trip (6 miles) was made in 20 minutes, and
there were 517 pounds of steam
left. It was pronounced an unqualified success. A stock company for putting
in use the new machine has
been organiled with a capital of $500,000, Mr. J. E. Young, President. Mr.
Myers offers to run the Hyde
Park dummy cars of the South Side Company at two-thirds of the present cost,
making five trips an hour,
instead of one as at present."

From Manufacturer and Builder / Volume 6, Issue 2,
February 1874

The final great success of the Greenwich
street elevated railroad, has settled the matter in regard to other similar
plans. The construction of the Gilbert elevated railroad has been commenced
in New York, at least a portion of the same is now being constructed in West
Broadway, so as to obtain a practical estimate of the cost, which in that
locality will be greatest, for reason of the great depth required for the
foundation there, it being made ground, filled in many feet.

From Manufacturer and Builder / Volume 6, Issue 3,
March 1874

LETTER-BOXES have been placed in the street cars in Chicago, and the plan
has thus far met with general approval. They were already in use on some
lines of the Philadelphia street cars in the years 1865-67, and found a
great public convenience; but it appears that the conductors considered them
an annoyance, while the companies did not find any profit in them, so this
good institution did not spread. We have no doubt that when the New York
post-office is completed, the proper
authorities will see the advantage of placing letter-boxes on all the lines
which have their terminus at the new post-office. If we take into
consideration that about a dozen lines have their terminus there, it is
evident that no better means could be devised for a rapid expedition of
letters from all parts of the city. The lines terminating at the new
post-office are, from the west side,
Broadway, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth avenues; at the east side, Third
and Fourth avenues, Central Depot, Bleecker street, Dry Dock, Avenue B, etc.
Indeed the convenience for the dwellers along these lines would be very
great if they could drop their letters into the cars passing there every few
minutes.

From Manufacturer and Builder / Volume 6, Issue 7,
July 1874

The peculiar situation of New York city on a long narrow island, at one
end nearly touching the continent, over which the city tends to extend,
makes the question of a rapid transit in a longitudinal direction, of the
highest importance to its inhabitants.

There are now four plans deserving special notice, one is Beach Pneumatic
Railway. This enterprise had lately its charter modified to give it more
space under Broadway. The most important fact demonstrated with the
experimental track, for some time in practical operation under a part of
Broadway, has been that with an air pressure of only 4 pound to the square
inch of transverse car section, thus one-sixtieth of the pressure above, or
below that of the normal atmosphere, a train may be pushed or drawn safely
at the rate of 60 and even 100 miles per hour.

Another and very excellent plan is provided by the New York Warehouse and
Railway Company, if the bill for this enterprise and which is called the
Gardner bill, is signed by the Governor, there is little doubt that within a
few years, passenger, as well as freight cars, will run all around the water
front. The natural result of such facilities would be a virtual
reconstruction of the city. The wholesale warehouses would seek the water
front, as is the case in most maritime cities, for it would be far cheaper
and easier to do business there and transfer freight, than in the interior
of the island. Within ten years handsome and durable commercial structures
would front the water, instead of the disreputable looking buildings that
now are in congenial proximity to tumble-down wharfs and piers. Broadway
and the central part of the island would be relieved from
congestion, and the expense and annoyances of tens of thousands of carts and
trucks would be saved.

In regard to the Gilbert Elevated Railway, since this company has
obtained all it asked from the Legislature, it is comforting to hear that
something is to be done. It is given out that a contract is to be made for
the iron-work. The plans of this company combine more merits than those of
any other elevated railway. Instead of being a disfigurement of the streets
and avenues through which it is to pass, it will be a positive adornment,
and will in no way interfere with the surface traffic. As to the annoyances
to residents along the line, these have been greatly exaggerated, and must
be endured, at all events, for the interests of the public.

The Greenwich Elevated Railway, which at first was a total failure as
long as several stationary engines were used, moving the cars by means of a
wire rope, has become a decided success since the employment of small
locomotives, each pulling two or three quite long cars. The number of people
travelling on it amounts already to 3,000 per day, and is steadily
increasing, and it is no wonder, as the daily experience shows the immense
advantage of never being delayed by street
obstructions, while it is indeed, delightful to move at a rapid pace over
wagons, cars, and people, which at certain hours of the day appear in
Greenwich street, in an inextricable jam. The horses below are already
accustomed to it, while the residents along the line, do not consider it any
more with disfavor. It will this year, be extended to the Central Park by a
side branch
from Twelfth street, and to South Ferry over the Battery from its lower
terminus. A second track will also be constructed over the whole route,
which will enable the road to carry any number of passengers.